I still do not believe there is a realistic market for Morneau. Sure, all it takes is one desparate GM willing to overlook the serious injury history and questionable future, but I don't see the Twins getting any great return (except for salary relief, and I still think MN would have to throw in some money) for Morneau. It would cost approximately a $21 million for a team to pay Morneau for the last half of 2012 and all of 2013. That's a big, big financial risk for most teams, even contenders, especially considering that Morneau hasn't successfully finished a season in a while.

If Morneau starts to hit and his wrist proves to be just fine, you don't think there's a team out there with room for him? The Cards have the money. It's not like he has 5 years left on his deal.

If he plays the next two months without a hitch and hits like the Morneau of old, someone will take him (if we offer him). I don't know what he'd get. Mets got Zach Wheeler for a few months of Carlos Beltran last year. From the Twins perspective, it makes no sense to trade him unless we get something of real future value to him considering his role within the organization and status among fans. They can't get Jacobson/Hoey or Oliveres-like deal for him. The exception to that would be if Ryan wants to do a payroll dump.

The ideal spot would be Texas. After losing the last two World Series, I can see them spending the resources to increase their chances for the next couple of years. They have room for an upgrade at 1B and they have the prospects to deal. How's this for a lineup: Kinsler, Andrus, Hamilton, Beltre, Morneau, Young, Napoli, Cruz, Murphy. Hopefully they can get one of Martin Perez, Neil Ramirez, or Jurickson Profar.

The market next year for Morneau (assuming he stays healthy and effective) would be significantly greater, the Twins only have 65 million committed to next years team anyways so there is no rush for a payroll dump.
Unless you are blown away by an offer this season, I think the best bet is to hold onto him for 2013 where you can maybe compete in an awful AL Central, if not you can always dump him at the deadline next year if you are out of it. Here are my rankings of players who should be potentially traded from greatest to least.
1a. Pavano (for anything)
1b. Doumit (for anything)
1c. Capps (for anything)
1d.Liriano (for anything)
5. Caroll
6. Span (only for a top starting pitcher in return)
7. Willingham (if the price is right)
8. Morneau (if the price is right)
9a. Burton (if the price is right)
9b. Duensing
9c. Perkins
9d. Blackburn (if anyone would take him)

The ideal spot would be Texas. After losing the last two World Series, I can see them spending the resources to increase their chances for the next couple of years. They have room for an upgrade at 1B and they have the prospects to deal. How's this for a lineup: Kinsler, Andrus, Hamilton, Beltre, Morneau, Young, Napoli, Cruz, Murphy. Hopefully they can get one of Martin Perez, Neil Ramirez, or Jurickson Profar.

No thanks on Perez, and there is zero chance they trade Profar. Perhaps they would listen if we included Sano, Rosario and Morneau, but that isn't going to happen. Profar is a legit top 5 prospect at this point at a premium position.

How could you trade for Morneau with that contract still left to pay and the knowledge that he could be shut down at any minute. You watch him in 2012, and it's obvious that there's still flashes of what he used to be. But this was a guy who wasn't even able to finish seasons BEFORE the 2010 concussion. He had 4 or 5 surgeries last year, and his wrist problems have already cost him time. I'm sorry, but if any one of those injuries becomes even a minor issue again, he isn't an upgrade for any team when he's on the field hurt.
Oh, and by the way, there's no DH in the National League, so you're committing yourself to playing him at 1B every game, which something even the lowly Twins haven't done. I love Morneau as a player, he's one of my favorite Twins over the course of his career. But you can't ignore all of the risk when you're talking trade value.

No thanks on Perez, and there is zero chance they trade Profar. Perhaps they would listen if we included Sano, Rosario and Morneau, but that isn't going to happen. Profar is a legit top 5 prospect at this point at a premium position.

Let me start by saying Profar is good. Really, really good. But even you have overrated his value with that hypothetical proposal. A deal with Morneau and Span would be EXTREMELY tempting for the Rangers. Especially if the Twins eat lots of Justin's contract. They also don't have anywhere to put Profar because they have Kinsler and Andrus locked up long term in their middle infield. I don't think it would be a good move, but I just thought it was worth bringing up.

I think this is a good point. The people who post on this site are smart baseball nerds who play things strictly by the numbers. But to your average fan, your star players have value beyond that and I think sometimes that's forgotten. Mauer and Morneau are all that's left of a strong late-2000s team, and both potentially have years of productivity left in them - modulo, of course, injuries. They could both be around as the veteran part of a better team in two or three years, and if you get rid of them, your average fan is going to lose even more interest. And average fans need to be interested, because they need to show up at games to fund the payroll.

I think it's doubtful the Twins deal Morneau, but assuming health and productivity through July, there would absolutely be a market for him. $20m for a year and a half of Morneau hitting in the middle of a good team's lineup isnt expensive.
And if the Twins were to deal him under those circumstances, they should expect a lot in return.

How could you trade for Morneau with that contract still left to pay and the knowledge that he could be shut down at any minute. You watch him in 2012, and it's obvious that there's still flashes of what he used to be. But this was a guy who wasn't even able to finish seasons BEFORE the 2010 concussion. He had 4 or 5 surgeries last year, and his wrist problems have already cost him time. I'm sorry, but if any one of those injuries becomes even a minor issue again, he isn't an upgrade for any team when he's on the field hurt.

Oh, and by the way, there's no DH in the National League, so you're committing yourself to playing him at 1B every game, which something even the lowly Twins haven't done. I love Morneau as a player, he's one of my favorite Twins over the course of his career. But you can't ignore all of the risk when you're talking trade value.

Any player could be shut down at any minute. Look at Carlos Beltran's injury history. He's gotten traded in nice packages before and signed huge FA deals. If Morneau is playing 1B every day and hitting, someone will take a chance on him. If he's healthy he's a great slugger and a former MVP. Who wouldn't risk adding a bat like that to their lineup heading into the playoffs?

As for not trading Morneau because of the fans.......if that's the case they may as well shut down the organization. We're going to finish last in our division for the 2nd season in a row. The M&M Boys are a distant memory. Those players are gone and they're likely never coming back. If you can get a nice package for Morneau and wipe $14 million off the books, you HAVE TO do it in order to increase the talent pool.

It's a real dilemma. When he's hurt (DL or playing through it) there is no market for him. When he's productive, the fans would scream. Branch Rickey's philosophy that it's better to trade a player a little too soon than a little to late is especially sharp when it comes to a guy that has a track record of injury, but I just don't see how a GM could survive the storm that would occur in the case of Morneau. Sometimes a team is accused of valuing its own players too much, but here it's externally driven rather than internally.
I think we just need to sit back and enjoy him, unless some team offers the really high-end prospects being bandied about here. Actually the prospect would need to be major-league ready, like the Doyle Alexander for John Smoltz trade, and I will be very surprised if this turns out to be possible.

He needs to stay healthy, but we shouldn't be fooled by his percieved lack of production. Despite missing time, only Edwin Encarnacion and Paul Konerko are having better years as AL firstbasemen. Morneau has a higher OPS an more HR than the rest of them. In fact he has as many HR as Mark Teixeira and Adrian Gonzolaz combined. An All-Star birth and even a HR derby spot are not out of question. Those marks on a resume mean a lot if you shop a player the same year. The Baltimre fan base would get excited when their newspaper gets to print the headline ORIOLES TRADE FOR FORMER MVP. $14M left for one extra season will only be a problem if he gets hurt again.